Latest in Delhi’s ‘Bangladeshi’ crackdown: 8-month-old, 18-month-old among 6 detained

Six members of a family, including an eight-month-old, 18-month-old, and a 17-year-old, are the latest to be detained in the Delhi Police crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants in the national capital.

They were detained from their home in Ghaziabad district’s Loni on July 9 and declared illegal Bangladeshi migrants by the Foreign Regional Registration Officer in Delhi’s RK Puram on July 11. They are lodged at a detention centre in Sarai Rohilla while the family has approached the Delhi High Court with a list of documents to say they are Indian citizens and have been detained illegally.

The court is set to hear the matter on July 23.

Among those detained are Akram Hossain (24), Asraf Hossain (23), Sara* (17) and Fahmina Khatun (20) – children of Amjad Hossain (54) and his wife Gulnaz. The other two detenues are Fahmina’s 18-month- and eight-month-old sons.

Amjad has approached the Delhi High Court claiming the detention has impacted Sara’s career as she was preparing for her class 12 exam. The list of documents he has produced include birth certificates of the two babies showing they were born in a Delhi government hospital, Fahmina’s Aadhaar card, Farha’s Aadhaar card and class 10 certificate showing the place of residence as Loni, and voter identification cards of Akram Hussain and Asraf Hussain showing their place of residence as Loni.

During a visit to his home, Amjad also showed his sons’ passports, a ration card mentioning the names of everyone in the family, his own domicile certificate for Bihar, and electricity and water bills in his name in Loni. “How can we be Bangladesh citizens when we have all these documents?”

Fahmina’s husband Salman claimed he was with his family on the rooftop of his in-laws’ house on the morning of July 9 when six police officers barged in and detained family members. “When we asked the reason, they did not say anything,” he alleged. The family learnt they were taken to the Seelampur police station. The next morning, one of their relatives visited the police station but was allegedly told that they are Bangladesh citizens. 

The FRRO order dated July 11 claimed to list out Bangladesh addresses of the detenues. It claimed they were staying in India “without valid documents” and “failed to provide any suitable reason or supportive documents to justify their illegal entry in India”.

However, the family alleged that neither the Delhi police nor FRRO gave them a chance to produce documents. “Now, everything is in the hands of the court. I can’t bear to see that Bangladeshi stamp on pictures of my two babies in the order. How can they be Bangladeshi, when they are born here and I am an Indian citizen? They did not even give us a chance to show documents,” claimed Salman.

What does the law say?

While foreign nationals who take up Indian citizenship are granted citizenship certificates, there is some ambiguity about which Indian document can be considered as proof of citizenship. 

As per the Citizenship Act, all those born in India before July 1, 1987 can be granted citizenship by birth – ostensibly proved only by a birth certificate. Those born after this date but before the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003 came into effect are Indian citizens if at least one of their parents is proved to be a citizen of India by birth and if any of the parents is not an illegal migrant.

Notably, there was no action against Amjad and Gulnaz who stayed at the same home. Amjad’s voter card shows he was born in 1972. He claims he was born in Madhubani, Bihar, and shows a class 6 marksheet to claim that he was enrolled in a school in 1984 in Bihar. He has a domicile certificate.

Gulnaz, on the other hand, has an Aadhaar card showing her residence in Delhi and is mentioned in the ration card.

The CPI(M)’s youth wing, the Democratic Youth Foundation of India, is helping the family arrange a lawyer. Its Delhi secretary Aman Saini claimed, ”Those who have been arrested possess all the legal documents to prove their citizenship. The state’s intention is to target Muslims and influence the elections in Bihar. Our organisation demands an impartial investigation into the matter and calls for their release. Any similar cases in the future should also be thoroughly investigated.”

Newslaundry reached out to DCP North East Delhi Ashish Mishra and the FRRO for a response. This report will be updated if they respond.

*Name changed to protect identity of a minor.

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